Ben Single

"Ben" is a song written by Don Black and composed by Walter Scharf for the 1972 film of the same name (the sequel to the 1971 killer rat film Willard). It was performed in the film by Lee Montgomery and by Michael Jackson over the closing credits. Jackson's single, recorded for the Motown label in 1972, spent one week at the top of the U.S. pop chart.[2] It also reached number-one on the Australian pop chart, spending eight weeks at the top spot.[2] The song also later reached a peak of number seven on the British pop chart.[2] "Ben" won a Golden Globe for Best Song. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1973, losing to "The Morning After" from The Poseidon Adventure; Jackson performed the song in front of a live audience at the ceremony.[3] The song was Jackson's first #1 solo hit.

Background


Originally written for Donny Osmond, "Ben" was offered to Jackson as Osmond was on tour at the time and unavailable for recording.[4] In addition to its one week at #1 in the U.S., the song also later reached a peak of number seven on the British pop chart.[2] "Ben" won a Golden Globe for Best Song. It was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1973; Jackson performed the song in front of a live audience at the ceremony.[3]
Although Jackson had already become the youngest artist to ever record a number-one ("I Want You Back" with The Jackson 5, in 1970), "Ben" made him the third-youngest solo artist, at fourteen, to score a number-one hit single. Only Stevie Wonder, who was thirteen when "Fingertips, Pt. 2" went to number one, and Donny Osmond, who was months shy of his fourteenth birthday when "Go Away Little Girl" hit number one in 1971 were younger. The song is one of Jackson's most re-released, having appeared on The Jackson 5 Anthology, The Best of Michael Jackson, Michael Jackson Anthology, Jackson 5: The Ultimate Collection, The Essential Michael Jackson, Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection, Hello World: The Motown Solo Collection, The Definitive Collection, Number Ones and King Of Pop. A live recorded version was released on the 1981 album The Jacksons Live! and remixed versions have appeared on The Remix Suite, Michael Jackson: The Stripped Mixes and some versions of Immortal. After Jackson's death, singer Akon released a remix of the song with his own background vocals and Jackson's original voice. In 1985, the song became a top ten hit again in the UK when covered by Marti Webb as a tribute to Ben Hardwick, a young liver transplant patient. This version reached number five in the UK charts and was one of the singer's biggest hits. The co-writer of the song Don Black was at that time Webb's manager. In 1997, the Irish boy band Boyzone did a cover version for their album A Different Beat. The song is played in the key of F Major at a tempo of 88bpm. The vocal range is B3-D5.[5] Michael Jackson performed the song on The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour and American Bandstand in the early 1970s, and again in 1976 on The Jacksons in tribute to Gentle Ben the bear.

Charts


Chart (1972) Peak
position
Australian Kent Music Report 1
UK Singles Chart[6] 7
US Billboard Hot 100 1
Chart (2009) Peak
position
Australian ARIA Singles Chart 14
Irish Singles Chart 24
UK Singles Chart 46
US Billboard Hot Digital Songs[7] 75

Cultural References


Kipp Lennon, who performed the singing part of Michael Jackson's character on The Simpsons sang "Ben" to Homer Simpson in the episode "Stark Raving Dad" replacing the name "Ben" with "Homer".
American singer Amanda Seyfried sang the song to President Bill Clinton as a birthday present.
Boyzone covered the song on their album A Different Beat.
Faith No More played the song during their The Second Coming Tour.
The song was featured in the TV movie Wedding Wars, sung by John Stamos' character at the wedding of his brother, Ben.
The song was covered in 2003 by Crispin Glover for the remake of Willard.
The song was spoofed in the television show The Wayans Bros. when it was sung by Marlon Wayans about his rat named "Rufus".
Billy Gilman performed the song at the Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Special in 2001
In 2007, Connie Talbot released a version on her debut album, Over the Rainbow.
During Dawn and Pete's wedding renewal vows in the Christmas episode of Gavin and Stacey, Dawn uses lines from "Ben", substituting 'Pete' for 'Ben'.[8]
In the Mexican project Mariachi Rock-O the song was covered in order to pay a homage to Michael Jackson's death. In the presentation of the project's album, the song was the last to be performed by all the mariachis present in the event.
The last six lines of "Rats" by Pearl Jam repeats the opening line of "Ben, the two of us need look no more"
The song was featured in the Michael Jackson tribute episode of Glee in January 2012, sung by stars Chris Colfer, Cory Monteith and Lea Michele to Darren Criss as their characters Kurt Hummel, Finn Hudson, Rachel Berry and Blaine Anderson.
The punk rock cover band Me First and the Gimme Gimmes do a cover of this song.